Kobalt Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Kobalt was acquired by Francisco Partners for $833M in September 2022, a 1.5x multiple on $548M of revenue.
Kobalt acquisition price
$833M
Acquired by Francisco Partners · Sep 2022
Kobalt revenue at acquisition
$548M
Last twelve months · Sep 2022
Kobalt revenue multiple at acquisition
1.5x
EV/Revenue · Sep 2022
Kobalt EBITDA multiple at acquisition
17.4x
EV/EBITDA · Sep 2022
About Kobalt
Kobalt is a New York-headquartered music publishing and technology company serving over 8,000 songwriters and 450 publishers worldwide. Its portal provides real-time royalty reporting, global licensing, collection, and creative services including sync deals and digital marketing. Kobalt represents artists like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Max Martin, and Disney Music Group, handling 40 percent of top U.S. and U.K. songs annually through divisions in publishing, label services, and neighboring rights.
Founded
2000
HQ
New York City, NYWebsite
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Services
Revenue
$548M (Sep 2022)
Valuation
$789M (Oct 2017)
Kobalt Acquisition
Kobalt was acquired by Francisco Partners for $833M on 7 September 2022.
The acquisition price implies a 1.5x revenue and 17.4x EBITDA multiple on $548M of revenue.
Before the acquisition Kobalt had raised $189M across 4 funding rounds.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Sep 2022 | PE buyout | $833M | 1.5x | 17.4x |
Kobalt Valuation
Kobalt is currently valued at $789M, based on its Series D in October 2017.
The $14M round was led by S32.
Kobalt's valuation has grown 1.0x from $775M at its Series D in May 2017 to $789M in October 2017, across 2 priced rounds.
Kobalt valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2017 | Series D | $789M |
| May 2017 | Series D | $775M |
Kobalt Funding History
Kobalt has raised a total of $189M across 4 funding rounds.
Kobalt's first fundraising round was a $40M Series B in October 2013. The most recent completed round was a $14M Series D in October 2017.
Kobalt funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2017 | Series D | S32 (lead) | $14M | $789M | Kobalt is a music rights collection startup providing big-data-based tools and a dashboard to the music industry for collecting royalties across fragmented markets, enhancing transparency and capturing incremental plays. It serves artists, songwriters, publishers, labels, and platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and SoundCloud, representing 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the US and UK. The company addresses delays in royalty payments by offering a full multi-rights content management system. In October 2017, Kobalt extended its Series D round with a $14 million investment from Section 32, led by Bill Maris, who joined the board. This followed the initial $75 million Series D announcement in May 2017 at a $775 million valuation led by Hearst, bringing the post-money valuation to $789 million. Section 32's investment was described as a second installment in the Series D. Shortly after, in November 2017, Kobalt Capital, a subsidiary, raised a $600 million fund (with $345 million in equity and the rest in debt) led by RPMI Railpen to buy and monetize music copyrights, maintaining Kobalt's $789 million valuation. The fund supported a secondary line of business separate from Kobalt's balance sheet, aligning with customer interests without owning copyrights directly. |
| May 2017 | Series D | Hearst Entertainment (lead); Balderton Capital; DFO Management; S32 | $75M | $775M | Kobalt Music Group is a music technology company providing publishing administration, label services, and neighboring rights services using its proprietary KTech platform to help songwriters and artists retain ownership and transparency in royalties. Kobalt's AMRA digital collection society, created by the company, handled significant digital royalties, with later growth to $110 million revenue in FY20/21. Later financials show gross collections of $494 million with $52.5 million gross profit but operating loss of $41.5 million in a prior year per UK filings, and FY 2020/2021 gross collections grew 15% to $548 million with $48.5 million EBITDA. |
| Feb 2015 | Series C | GV (lead); Michael Dell | $60M | - | Kobalt is a music publishing and rights company founded in 2000 that provides technology and services for collecting music royalties across digital platforms. The company operates in three main divisions: Publishing (which generates the majority of revenue), Label Services (offering marketing, distribution, and licensing), and Neighbouring Rights collection. In 2015, Kobalt generated $245 million in total annual revenue, with the Publishing Division accounting for $194.2 million, Label Services generating $29.1 million, and the Neighbouring Rights Division contributing $20.9 million. In February 2015, Kobalt raised $60 million in Series C funding led by Google Ventures (GV), with additional participation from MSD Capital (the investment firm of Michael Dell and his family) and MSDC Management. The company stated this investment brought total funding to $126 million since its 2000 founding and would support technology innovations to provide artists and songwriters with transparent, efficient, and accurate royalty processing. Kobalt served over 8,000 songwriters and 500 publishing companies worldwide, with notable clients including Maroon 5, Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, Beck, and others. The company reported experiencing consistent 40% year-over-year revenue growth through the past decade and noted that GV's investment represented the firm's first European investment. This round marked a pivotal moment as digital music streaming was accelerating globally, with Kobalt positioned to help bridge the gap between the music and technology industries in managing royalties across platforms like Spotify and YouTube. |
| Oct 2013 | Series B | Balderton Capital; DFO Management | $40M | - | Kobalt Music Group is a music publishing and services company that collects royalties on behalf of high-profile clients including Paul McCartney, Disney, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Dave Grohl, Maroon 5, and Skrillex, while also acquiring IP catalogs such as Steve Winwood's for royalty collection. It provides advances to artists funded partly by investor capital and offers a dashboard for users to track music performance analytics. Kobalt focuses on transparency in copyright administration, creative services, synch/licensing, digital collections, label services, and neighboring rights management. The company operates globally with offices in London, New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, Berlin, Sydney, Stockholm, and Atlanta, administering over 250,000 copyrights from 37 territories for more than 1,200 content holders. By fiscal 2013, Kobalt reported sales of $175 million, up 40% from the prior year, with losses increasing 30% to $7.4 million. This financial disclosure appeared in a 2014 announcement of a $140 million funding round led by Balderton Capital (formerly Benchmark Europe), MSD Capital ($25 million including Spark Ventures' stake), and undisclosed investors, bringing total funding to $250 million since 2001. |
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Who has invested in Kobalt?
6 investors have backed Kobalt across its funding rounds, including Balderton Capital, S32, DFO Management, GV, Michael Dell and Hearst Entertainment.
Lead investors include S32, Hearst Entertainment and GV.
Kobalt Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 London | 2 | Participant | Oct 2013 | |
| New York City, NY | 2 | Participant | Oct 2013 | |
| San Diego, CA | 2 | Lead | May 2017 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 1 | Lead | Feb 2015 | |
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Start Free TrialKobalt Competitors
Kobalt competitors include listed companies like Saregama India and China Literature, and private ones like Hungama, The Phone-Up Studios, Kakao Entertainment and SoundCloud.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 India | Publicly listed | $100M | $36M | $979M | 8.6x | |
| Mumbai | Private | - | - | $175M | - | |
| Laredo, TX | Private | - | - | $119M | - | |
 Seongnam | Private | $1.2B | - | $7B | 5.8x | |
 Berlin | Private | - | - | $700M | - | |
 China | Publicly listed | $1.1B | ($85M) | $2.4B | 1.2x |
Kobalt Public Comps
Kobalt is no longer listed, but its public comps include Zhejiang Sunriver Culture, Tips Music, Nine Entertainment, Daily Journal, USA TODAY, JYP Entertainment, Saregama India, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic and Sonaecom.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $175M | $59M | 6.1x | - | 18.1x | - | |||
| $39M | $30M | 21.7x | 19.3x | 28.5x | 27.5x | |||
| $1.6B | ($279M) | 1.3x | 1.3x | (7.2x) | 6.9x | |||
| $88M | $18M | 5.7x | - | 28.6x | - | |||
| $2.3B | $262M | 0.8x | 0.9x | 7.5x | 7.2x | |||
| $598M | $175M | 1.1x | 1.1x | 3.8x | 5.4x | |||
| $100M | $36M | 9.7x | 8.6x | 26.8x | 24.6x | |||
| $438M | $71M | 1.5x | 1.4x | 9.1x | 8.5x | |||
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Common questions about Kobalt
| When was Kobalt founded? | Kobalt was founded in 2000. |
| Where is Kobalt headquartered? | Kobalt is headquartered in New York City, NY, United States. |
| Is Kobalt publicly listed? | No, Kobalt was acquired by Francisco Partners in September 2022. |
| Who acquired Kobalt? | Kobalt was acquired by Francisco Partners in September 2022. |
| How much was Kobalt acquired for? | Kobalt was acquired for $833M in September 2022, a 1.5x revenue multiple. |
| What is Kobalt's valuation? | Kobalt was last valued at $789M in its Series D in October 2017. |
| How much funding has Kobalt raised? | Kobalt has raised $189M across 4 funding rounds. |
| What was Kobalt's last funding round? | Kobalt's last funding round was a $14M Series D in October 2017, led by S32. |
| Who are Kobalt's investors? | Kobalt's investors include Balderton Capital, DFO Management, S32, GV, Hearst Entertainment and Michael Dell. |
| Which companies are comparable to Kobalt? | Companies comparable to Kobalt include Saregama India, Hungama, The Phone-Up Studios, Kakao Entertainment, SoundCloud and China Literature. |
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